More Workshops!

The Knoxville Writers' Guild is sponsoring a panel discussion on Writing Dialogue from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 7 at the Redeemer Church of Knoxville, 1642 Highland Ave. Cost is $15 for Guild members, $20 for nonmembers.

The panel includes novelist and screenwriter Shannon Burke, playwright Lisa Soland, novelist Pamela Schoenewaldt and screenwriter Russell Schaumburg. Novelist Terry Shaw will moderate the discussion.

"We have a great group of writers with varied backgrounds who are willing to share their experience," Shaw says. "It's going to be a lot of fun and everyone involved should learn something."

Burke is a former Harlem paramedic whose novels include Safelight and Black Flies, which The New York Times Sunday Book Review called "searing and morally resonant novels." He also worked on the script for Syriana, which received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Screenplay.

Soland is an award-winning playwright with more than 30 publications to her credit, including The Man in the Gray Suit and Truth Be Told, both published by Samuel French. While living in Los Angeles, she established two theaters. She is currently playwright-in-residence at the Tennessee Repertory Theatre.

Schaumburg is a Knoxville native and Webb School graduate who wrote the independent film Tennessee. Schoenewaldt's debut novel, When We Were Strangers, was released in January by HarperCollins and was a Book of the Month Club and Doubleday Book Club alternate. Shaw is a former newspaper reporter and editor. His debut novel, The Way Life Should Be, was published by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster.

To register and pay by credit card or PayPal, click here or send check to KWG Workshops, P.O. Box 10326, Knoxville TN 37939-0326. For more information, contact Guild President Terry Shaw at tshaw05@comcast.net.

From Pen to Publication: Judy DiGregorio, May 14

Humorist Judy DiGregorio will teach the workshop "From Pen to Publication: How Do You Start?" from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 14 at the Redeemer Church of Knoxville, 1642 Highland Ave. The event is sponsored by the Knoxville Writers' Guild. Cost is $15 for Guild members, $20 for nonmembers.

The workshop is aimed at beginning writers who need to know the basics of manuscript and query letter preparation. It also discusses writing tools and resources such as writing conferences and classes. The course will show you how to improve your writing skills and publication opportunities.

DiGregorio's work has appeared in the Army Times, The Writer, ByLine Magazine, the Chicken Soup Books, New Millennium Writings, CityView, and numerous anthologies. She is also the author of two humor books from Celtic Cat Publishing, Life Among the Lilliputians and Memories of a Loose Woman, and a new CD of humorous stories, Jest Judy.

To register and pay by credit card or PayPal, click here or send check to KWG Workshops, P.O. Box 10326, Knoxville TN 37939-0326.

Writing Dialogue: May 7, 2011

The clock is ticking! April 30 is the deadline for 2011 Guild Contest.... New Genres: Novel Excerpts, Flash Fiction and Blog Writing!

April 28: Poet Linda Parsons Marion reads from her 3rd poetry collection, Bound

Linda Parsons Marion's third poetry collection, Bound, chronicles the work and fabric of a Tennessee family, from grandparents to parents to daughters to granddaughter. Bound as they are on journeys together and apart, memory seams one generation to the next, redeeming the stumbles of the past and blessing the plenteous future.

New Writing Groups!

 We're forming several new writing groups: